diff --git a/docs/src/database-snapshot-guide.md b/docs/src/database-snapshot-guide.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4def42482
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/src/database-snapshot-guide.md
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Database snapshot guide
+
+For this guide we will be taking a snapshot of a parachain and relay chain. Please note we are using a local chain here `rococo_local_testnet` and `local_testnet`. Live chains will have different values
+
+*Please ensure that the database is not in current use, i.e no nodes are writing to it*
+
+# How to prepare database for a relaychain
+To prepare snapshot for a relay chain we need to copy the database. 
+
+```
+mkdir -p relaychain-snapshot/alice/data/chains/rococo_local_testnet/db/
+
+cp -r chain-data/alice/data/chains/rococo_local_testnet/db/ relaychain-snapshot/alice/data/chains/rococo_local_testnet/db/ 
+
+tar -C relaychain-snapshot/alice/ -czf relaychain.tgz data
+```
+# How to prepare database for a parachain
+
+To prepare snapshot for a parachain we need to copy the database for both the collator node (parachain data) and validator (relay data)
+
+```
+#Parachain data
+mkdir -p parachain-snapshot/charlie/data/chains/local_testnet/db/
+
+# Relay data
+mkdir -p parachain-snapshot/charlie/relay-data/chains/rococo_local_testnet/db/
+
+
+cp -r chain-data/charlie/data/chains/local_testnet/db/ parachain-snapshot/charlie/data/chains/local_testnet/db/
+
+
+cp -r chain-data/charlie/relay-data/chains/rococo_local_testnet/db/ parachain-snapshot/charlie/relay-data/chains/rococo_local_testnet/db/
+
+tar -C parachain-snapshot/charlie/ -czf parachain.tgz data relay-data
+```
+
+# Restoring a snapshot
+Zombienet will automatically download the `*.tgz` file to the respective folder for a run. However you can also download it manually, just ensure you extract the tar file in the correct directory, i.e. the root directory
+`chain-data/charlie/`
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/configGenerator.ts b/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/configGenerator.ts
index a2805ae7e..1267edc65 100644
--- a/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/configGenerator.ts
+++ b/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/configGenerator.ts
@@ -530,6 +530,7 @@ async function getCollatorNodeFromConfig(
     overrides: [],
     zombieRole: cumulusBased ? "cumulus-collator" : "collator",
     parachainId: para_id,
+    dbSnapshot: collatorConfig.db_snapshot,
     imagePullPolicy: networkSpec.settings.image_pull_policy || "Always",
     ...ports,
     externalPorts,
diff --git a/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/orchestrator.ts b/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/orchestrator.ts
index 0274501d6..a26d88322 100644
--- a/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/orchestrator.ts
+++ b/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/orchestrator.ts
@@ -261,6 +261,38 @@ export async function start(
     const chainSpecContent = require(chainSpecFullPathPlain);
     client.chainId = chainSpecContent.id;
 
+    const parachainFilesPromiseGenerator = async (parachain: Parachain) => {
+      const parachainFilesPath = `${tmpDir.path}/${parachain.name}`;
+      await makeDir(parachainFilesPath);
+      await generateParachainFiles(
+        namespace,
+        tmpDir.path,
+        parachainFilesPath,
+        chainName,
+        parachain,
+      );
+    };
+
+    const parachainPromiseGenerators = networkSpec.parachains.map(
+      (parachain: Parachain) => {
+        return () => parachainFilesPromiseGenerator(parachain);
+      },
+    );
+
+    await series(parachainPromiseGenerators, opts.spawnConcurrency);
+    for (const parachain of networkSpec.parachains) {
+      const parachainFilesPath = `${tmpDir.path}/${parachain.name}`;
+      const stateLocalFilePath = `${parachainFilesPath}/${GENESIS_STATE_FILENAME}`;
+      const wasmLocalFilePath = `${parachainFilesPath}/${GENESIS_WASM_FILENAME}`;
+      if (parachain.addToGenesis)
+        await addParachainToGenesis(
+          chainSpecFullPathPlain,
+          parachain.id.toString(),
+          stateLocalFilePath,
+          wasmLocalFilePath,
+        );
+    }
+
     if (!chainSpecContent.genesis.raw) {
       // Chain spec customization logic
       const relayChainSpec = readAndParseChainSpec(chainSpecFullPathPlain);
@@ -314,37 +346,6 @@ export async function start(
         );
       }
 
-      const parachainFilesPromiseGenerator = async (parachain: Parachain) => {
-        const parachainFilesPath = `${tmpDir.path}/${parachain.name}`;
-        await makeDir(parachainFilesPath);
-        await generateParachainFiles(
-          namespace,
-          tmpDir.path,
-          parachainFilesPath,
-          chainName,
-          parachain,
-        );
-      };
-      const parachainPromiseGenerators = networkSpec.parachains.map(
-        (parachain: Parachain) => {
-          return () => parachainFilesPromiseGenerator(parachain);
-        },
-      );
-
-      await series(parachainPromiseGenerators, opts.spawnConcurrency);
-      for (const parachain of networkSpec.parachains) {
-        const parachainFilesPath = `${tmpDir.path}/${parachain.name}`;
-        const stateLocalFilePath = `${parachainFilesPath}/${GENESIS_STATE_FILENAME}`;
-        const wasmLocalFilePath = `${parachainFilesPath}/${GENESIS_WASM_FILENAME}`;
-        if (parachain.addToGenesis)
-          await addParachainToGenesis(
-            chainSpecFullPathPlain,
-            parachain.id.toString(),
-            stateLocalFilePath,
-            wasmLocalFilePath,
-          );
-      }
-
       if (networkSpec.hrmp_channels) {
         await addHrmpChannelsToGenesis(
           chainSpecFullPathPlain,
diff --git a/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/providers/native/nativeClient.ts b/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/providers/native/nativeClient.ts
index 3c5d92f7f..79d318586 100644
--- a/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/providers/native/nativeClient.ts
+++ b/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/providers/native/nativeClient.ts
@@ -278,12 +278,12 @@ export class NativeClient extends Client {
     if (dbSnapshot) {
       // we need to get the snapshot from a public access
       // and extract to /data
-      await makeDir(`${podDef.spec.dataPath}/chains`, true);
+      await makeDir(`${podDef.spec.dataPath}`, true);
 
-      await downloadFile(dbSnapshot, `${podDef.spec.dataPath}/chains/db.tgz`);
+      await downloadFile(dbSnapshot, `${podDef.spec.dataPath}/db.tgz`);
       await this.runCommand([
         "-c",
-        `cd ${podDef.spec.dataPath}/chains && tar -xzvf db.tgz`,
+        `cd ${podDef.spec.dataPath}/.. && tar -xzvf data/db.tgz`,
       ]);
     }
 
diff --git a/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/providers/podman/podmanClient.ts b/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/providers/podman/podmanClient.ts
index 8ac63e841..55f02c5a7 100644
--- a/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/providers/podman/podmanClient.ts
+++ b/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/providers/podman/podmanClient.ts
@@ -377,10 +377,10 @@ export class PodmanClient extends Client {
       // and extract to /data
       await makeDir(`${dataPath.hostPath.path}/chains`, true);
 
-      await downloadFile(dbSnapshot, `${dataPath.hostPath.path}/chains/db.tgz`);
+      await downloadFile(dbSnapshot, `${dataPath.hostPath.path}/db.tgz`);
       await execa("bash", [
         "-c",
-        `cd ${dataPath.hostPath.path}/chains && tar -xzvf db.tgz`,
+        `cd ${dataPath.hostPath.path}/..  && tar -xzvf data/db.tgz`,
       ]);
     }